I appreicate that, but there is a first part of the question that asks for the velocity after 7.7 seconds, in which I used 40° as my angle of reference. I arrived at the correct answer for that. It also says "north of east," which I am sure means north of the negative x-axis (east). I believe that were it phrased otherwise (east of north), that would mean 40° east (to the left) of the positive y-axis, so I don't believe the angles are the issue, unless someone else feels otherwise.

I'm not quite sure that I follow your meaning? We're determining the direction of the sailboat in terms of angle relative to the negative (east) x-axis. That is the directional component of the vector.